Recent updates

Cllr John Whitehouse (Liberal Democrats), who has represented Kenilworth Abbey division on Warwickshire County Council since 2005, has announced his intention not to stand as a candidate in the County Council elections in May.

The next election will be fought on new county divisional boundaries, as a result of which the current Abbey division, which follows essentially the same boundaries as the Abbey district ward, will disappear.

Local Liberal Democrats have called on Jeremy Wright to come clean about the advice that he has been giving as Attorney General to the government about Brexit.

Liberal Democrats welcome the decision by the Supreme Court that Mrs May's government has to get the authority of Parliament before exercising Article 50. This preserves the important role of Parliament in ensuring that the country gets the best possible deal when leaving the EU.

The terms and destination of the UK's departure from the EU are still far from clear and you have had an important role in this process.As Attorney General, you have been arguing through the courts that the government, and not elected Parliamentarians, should decide on when to exercise Article 50, which will trigger the two year process which will determine the destination for the UK's departure from the EU. Three High Court Judges have already ruled in favour of Parliament on this matter.

Kenilworth & Southam Liberal Democrats accept the result of last week's EU Referendum: as democrats we should do nothing less. We thank everyone who voted - as usual the levels of turnout across the constituency were amongst the highest in the country. We especially thank the young first-time voters, the people who will be most affected by the result.

Local Liberal Democrat recently launched a petition via the Kenilworth Focus, calling on the Leader of Warwickshire County Council to write to the Prime Minister and the Warwickshire MPs, objecting to the proposed forced academisation of all state schools as being both undemocratic and wrong. Subsequently the Conservative Leader, with backing from all the other party leaders, has written to the Prime Minister to this effect.

I am writing to you on behalf of the Warwickshire County Council Liberal Democrat Group to express our deep disappointment over this year's central government finance settlement for the County Council, and the loss of funding that will now seriously reduce local services and at the same time increase the pressure on the taxpayers of Warwickshire. You will be aware that the County Council has being working hard on efficiencies and has delivered savings of £98 million since 2010, therefore meeting the challenge of funding reductions at the same time as rising demand.

For the second time in less than five years, the Liberal Democrats are leading the fight to save youth and community services in Kenilworth from savage budget cuts by Conservative councillors.

In 2011, Warwickshire's ruling Tories cut all county funding for youth and community services in our town. Local Lib Dems, led by Cllrs John Whitehouse and Ann Blacklock, helped to raise a huge petition which forced a rethink. The outcome was theKenilworthCentre charity, which took over the premises in Abbey End Car Park in 2012, and which has taken the provision of youth and community services in the town from strength to strength over the last 3½ years.

Richard Dickson, Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson for Kenilworth & Southam, and John Whitehouse, Lib Dem county councillor for Kenilworth Abbey visited the House of Lords yesterday to meet Baroness Jenny Randerson, the spokesperson for Transport in Tim Farron's leadership team in Westminster.

Affordable homes, young people's services and road safety are the biggest priorities in the town, according to research recently completed by local Liberal Democrats in Kenilworth.

Throughout the month of October local LibDem volunteers have been out and about on doorsteps to seek the opinion of 800 households throughout Kenilworth to find out the main concerns of local people. Hundreds of households in each of the three Council wards of Abbey, Park Hill and St John's were asked to complete a brief survey which gave them the opportunity to express their views on a range of subjects, including Council services, buses and trains, the local environment, community safety, traffic and voting in elections. Respondents were also asked what they liked most and liked least about living in Kenilworth.